1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic design automation (EDA) techniques, and more particularly, to a system and method for assisting circuit design to generate circuit layouts via the electronic design automation technique.
2. Description of Related Art
In the electronic equipment manufacturing industry, printed circuit board (PCB) design is becoming increasingly more sophisticated. Printed circuit board design is divided into two principle stages: a circuit design stage and a circuit layout stage. In the circuit design stage, an electronic designer uses circuit design or capture software (e.g., Protel) to set the attributes of the circuit, the circuit design software generating a corresponding output file as a result. Then, a circuit layout software package (e.g., Mentor Graphics or OrCad) reads the output file, and a final circuit map is generated in the circuit layout stage.
The above prior art, though using a professional software package to assist the completion of the layout operation, has the following drawbacks.
Two different groups of electronic engineers perform the circuit design work and the circuit layout work. Hence, a circuit layout engineer unfamiliar with the characteristics of the electronic parts is likely to spend much time arranging the electronic parts.
In addition, after the circuit layout engineer has designed a circuit layout, the circuit design engineer, if unsatisfied with the position of the electronic parts in the circuit layout, cannot amend the circuit layout directly.